Publications
Publications
- June 2015 (Revised April 2018)
- HBS Case Collection
WeChat: A Global Platform?
By: Willy Shih, Howard Yu and Feng Liu
Abstract
WeChat was developed by Tencent Holdings as a lightweight messaging platform. As it grew quickly to become the most popular messaging app in China, it added a range of products and services that sat on top that were designed to appeal to a broad range of consumers and businesses. Official accounts, WeChat payment, and online to offline features expanded its reach, but the core question was whether the company could break out from its home market and offer the rest of the world something that its competitors could not.
Keywords
Online Platforms; China; WeChat; Tencent Holdings; Globalization; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Telecommunications Industry; Information Industry; China
Citation
Shih, Willy, Howard Yu, and Feng Liu. "WeChat: A Global Platform?" Harvard Business School Case 615-049, June 2015. (Revised April 2018.)